


we'll laugh as the sun

by fanfoolishness (LoonyLupin), LoonyLupin



Series: Chapter and Verse (Varric Tethras x Min Hawke) [1]
Category: Dragon Age II
Genre: Dragon Age II - Act 1, F/M, Friendship, Gen, Kirkwall (Dragon Age), Slow Build, Sundermount
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-03
Updated: 2018-12-03
Packaged: 2019-09-06 03:10:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16823932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoonyLupin/pseuds/fanfoolishness, https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoonyLupin/pseuds/LoonyLupin
Summary: Hawke leads her new business partner, Varric, out to Sundermount to complete a favor.  She wasn't counting on the delicacy of dwarven constitutions, though.





	we'll laugh as the sun

Varric scowled at the sun overhead, keeping his eyes averted from the unfamiliar enemy. Kirkwall’s stony streets were so often shaded by the city’s walls, especially in Lowtown. There was no need for any legitimate businessman to take their business outside the city and into the path of the furious sun, and yet here he was, trying to keep his panting down to a dull roar as he marched along beneath the midday’s fire.

The path cutting through the hills to the green feet of Sundermount was blindingly, punishingly bright. Was it hotter than an Orzammar forge? He thought it might be. (Reasonably, he assumed the forges were pretty damn hot.)

“A copper for your thoughts, Master Tethras,” said the human woman, Min Hawke. She was sweating nearly as heavily as he was, her dark hair tied back in a knot at the base of her neck, her well-muscled arms bared and glistening under the sunlight.

“Ugh! First, Master Tethras is an asshole and my brother. Call me Varric. Second, I knew it was midsummer when I agreed to come on this trip,” said Varric. “But boiling alive was never part of the deal.”

“Fereldan summers never get this hot. This is our first one here in Kirkwall,” said Hawke, huffing as they climbed a long, narrow path up the mountainside. “I’m quite as miserable as you are. What’s your excuse? Didn’t you say you’d lived here your whole life?”

“Dwarf, remember? Not a people exactly known for frolicking around in the wilderness. We like to hole up and take it easy, preferably with a good book and a cold ale. Most of us haven’t ever even seen the sun.”

“I rather like it,” said Hawke’s sister, Bethany, brushing her close-cropped dark hair back behind her ears. “I was always cold back home. I can see why Mum used to complain so about the winters, coming from weather like this.”

“Speak for yourself,” said their redhaired friend, Aveline. Her skin was already looking pink from sunburn, and Varric grimaced, patting the bridge of his nose in sympathy. It felt uncomfortably warm already. He wagered by the day’s end he and Aveline would both be seared different shades of scarlet, with Hawke and her sister barely showing pink in their russet brown cheeks. 

He sighed, attempting to resign himself to his fate, but all he managed to feel was a fuzzy sense of inevitability. That, and burgeoning nausea. He swallowed.

“Perhaps we can buy you both a hat from the Dalish,” said Hawke uncertainly. “Something to shield you from the sun. You _are_ looking rather pink.”

Varric trudged along, falling back behind Aveline. Humans and their long legs. It was an entirely unfair advantage. His boots fell, one after the other, along Aveline’s footprints. They hadn’t felt this heavy before. He wondered vaguely what had changed. His legs seemed to be made of sand.

“Very observant, Hawke,” said Aveline. “I’ll be fine, though.”

“But will _he_?” asked Bethany in alarm, her voice sounding as if it came from a long, long way away. Varric shook his head irritably at the distant noise, the world fading, and hit the ground face-first.

* * *

“Heatstroke,” said Bethany. “I’ve never seen it before, but that’s what it must be. Hang on, he’s coming around. Maker’s breath, I wish I’d been able to learn more of healing!”

Varric blinked up at the three women, his head pounding. He was still stupefyingly hot, but they had pulled off his jacket and gloves and rolled up the sleeves of his tunic to his elbows. The heat wasn’t quite as bad now. Cool water drenched him suddenly, splashing onto him from the water-skin Hawke held. 

“All this fuss, just for me?” groaned Varric.

“You foolish dwarf, had you drank any of your water?”

“Maybe?”

“No, you didn’t,” said Hawke. “Because it was all right here.” She shook the water-skin at him. “Are you all right?”

“I think he’ll be fine,” said Bethany, kneeling beside him and offering him some water to drink. Had water ever tasted so good before? “Though trying to get healing magic to take on a dwarf is surprisingly difficult. I’d never tried before.” She blushed suddenly. “I’m sorry, that’s rude, isn’t it?”

He shrugged. “There’s a reason most dwarves prefer the subterranean life,” Varric mumbled after a long drink. “When I remember what it is, I’ll tell you.”

“Perhaps we’d better see what the Dalish could do for him,” said Aveline, marching up, eyes narrowed against the sun. “I scouted ahead, and I think they’re very close now.”

“Up on your feet, then,” said Hawke, and together she and Bethany hauled him back up to a standing position. “Do you want me to carry your crossbow until you’re feeling a bit better? I know you’re particular about it.” Bethany gathered up his jacket and gloves, tossing the jacket over her shoulders and stuffing the gloves into the pouch at her belt.

Varric hesitated. The path ahead looked steep, and his head still swam, embarrassingly. But it was _Bianca_. He pulled at his lower lip with the edge of his teeth. Hawke’s face looking down at him seemed open, honest, concerned.

“All right,” he said at last. “You can carry her for now. But if anything happens to her, I’ll kill you myself.” He tried to give Hawke what he hoped was a winning smile. “Dwarf’s honor.”

Hawke grinned. “I can tell you _must_ be feeling better. Of course, I meant ‘her.’” She hefted Bianca, the crossbow looking almost at home on her back, despite how strange it was to see Bianca on somebody else. “Come on then. I’m sure the Dalish can get you back in fighting shape.” She smiled, and her white teeth glittered in the afternoon sun.

Varric smiled back, a blurry, wobbly gesture, and he wondered what the shit he’d gotten himself into.

**Author's Note:**

> I imagine it takes Varric a while to build up his endurance to adventuring!!!


End file.
